Originally Posted by
J Miller
One of the biggest causes for the hand wheel not disengaging is gummed up oil between the hand wheel and the main shaft. You should remove the wheel, clean the inside of the shaft bore and the shaft thoroughly then put one drop of oil on it and reinstall the hand wheel. I always mark the stop motion clutch washer and shaft with a sharpie so I can be sure to put it back the way it came off.
That usually fixes the problem.
Miriam had an old 99K she was curious about putting a Chinese repro spoked hand wheel on so she could turn it into a hand crank.
But the hand wheel would not come off. We had to oil with Tri-Flow and let it sit for a while. After that it just slipped off.
So that's my theory and I'm stickin to it.
Joe
I heartily agree, Joe - I've seen all kinds of gunk in those - some times you have a horrible time getting the hand wheels off due to dried up gunky oil. There was a Singer 401 I opened up had a pond of oil in there - not dried, but it was a real mess. The other thing I have seen on those old machines is a broken case and a bent shaft for the hand wheel. Be careful picking up those old cases - pick up from the bottom - the old glues may not hold. Oh those bent ones are more than hard to repair.